Securing the foundations for fish
food security in a changing
ocean, West, Central and
Southern Africa
Abidjan Convention
Scoping meeting for project design
FAO/NORWAY/UNEP
Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
15 to 17 August 2014
OUTLINE
• 1. Abidjan Convention
• 2. Abidjan Convention and fisheries
- Articles of the Convention
- CCLME project
- MoUs with COREP and CSRP
- COPs 10 and 11 decisions
• 4. Proposed cooperation
.
Abidjan Convention
1. Abidjan Convention
• Adopted by the Governments in 1981 and entered into force in
1984.
• Two protocols concerning cooperation in combating
marine/coastal pollutions. the Protocol concerning cooperating
in combating pollution in cases of emergency (1984) and the
Protocol concerning Land-based Sources and Activities (2012).
• Covers the marine environment, coastal zones and related
inland waters falling within the jurisdiction of the States of the
West, Central and Southern African Region, from Mauritania to
South Africa inclusive (22 coastal countries ).
• .
1. Abidjan Convention (C’d)
• The (16) Contracting Parties to the Convention are: Benin,
Cameroon, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, Togo and RSA
• Cote d’Ivoire is the Depository, and the United Nations
Environment Programme, the Secretariat. The Regional
Coordinating Unit is based in Abidjan
2. The Abidjan Convention area and the
challenges
The Abidjan Convention area
The coastline of this area from Mauritania to South Africa exceeds
14,000 km
Spanning 22 countries and marked by the Canary, Guinea and
Benguela large marine ecosystems (LMEs).
Among the most productive marine zones in the world
These coastal ecosystems include deltas, mangroves, seagrass,
meadows, wetlands, barriers and lagoons.
From an economic perspective, the most important resources include
fisheries, diamonds, oil and gas (among the world top three) and other
minerals like limestone and sand. Tourism is also growing in importance
The (many) issues
•Monitoring and assessment/ •Land-based sources of pollution
(LBS)
•Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPA) / •Oil spill
contingency/recovery plans / • Coastal habitat management /
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) / •Integrated Coastal
Zone Management (ICZM) / •Marine Litter, including ship generated
marine pollution / •Regional legal and institutional frameworks
•Economic valuation of marine and coastal ecosystem services
2. Abidjan Convention and fisheries
• Articles of the Convention
• CCLME project
• MoUs with COREP and CSRP
The purpose of this MOU is to provide a framework of cooperation and understanding,
and to facilitate cooperation between the Parties to further their shared goals and
objectives in regard to the conservation, protection, enhancement and support of nature
and natural resources including fisheries resources in our region
2. Abidjan Convention and fisheries (C’d)
COPs 10 and 11 decisions
• Decision-/CP.10/15. Cooperation with Regional Fisheries Bodies
(RFBs)
•
To give a priority role to the Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFBs) to work together with
the Secretariat of the Abidjan Convention, in the elaboration and implementation of
sustainable fisheries management policies, programmes and projects;
•
To strengthen coordination and cooperation with the RFBs whose competence
areas overlap with or are adjacent to that of the Abidjan Convention to achieve
common goals in relation to ecosystems supporting sustainable use of natural
resources, by:
–
participating in the meetings of RFBs and facilitating participation of RFBs in relevant
meetings of the Abidjan Convention;
– exploring fields of cooperation (e.g. environmental policies and legislation; ecosystem
approach; data collection and information sharing and exchange; capacity building; marine
protected areas; illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing etc.);
– Concluding MoUs with the different RFBs
2. Abidjan Convention and fisheries
(C’d)
COPs 10 and 11 decisions (C’d)
CP.11/1 on Cooperation with Regional Fisheries
Bodies
– To recognize draft agreements aimed at establishing
cooperation with sub regional fisheries bodies on the themes
defined at COP10 ;
– To request the Secretariat to continue to further incorporate
sub regional fisheries bodies into the action and governance
framework of the Abidjan Convention ;
Abidjan Convention
THANK YOU!